Page 16 - ARUBA TODAY

A16 FEATURE
Thursday 27 July 2017

This photo shows pilgrims walking a stretch of the Camino de Santiago across La Rioja farmland in Spain. People from around the world walk the camino frances, a
500-mile medieval pilgrimage route to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The 500-mile ancient pilgrimage route takes a growing number of pilgrims through
many art-filled towns.
(Giovanna Dell’Orto via AP)
Crossing Spain On An Ancient Pilgrimage Route

GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO land. How much solitude you get depends on one of four major cities the camino crosses.
Associated Press when and where you start. Refueled with Basque txistorra sausage, you’re
EL ACEBO, Spain (AP) — About three hours into In 2015, 172,243 people walked or rode bikes off through rolling hills carpeted in wheat and
the day’s hike, having just cleared the highest or horses along the camino frances, accord- vines, topped by castles and crisscrossed by
mountain point of the Camino de Santiago, I ing to the Pilgrims’ Office in Santiago. More Roman roads and medieval bridges until Estel-
looked down into the valleys pockmarked with than 67,000 started in Sarria, about four days la, whose fortress-like medieval churches and
yellow and purple spring blossoms, and froze. from Santiago, the end of the trail. Thebusi- palaces huddle in a gorge.
Surely that faraway black office tower, seem- est months are May-September, with more ASTORGA TO O CEBREIRO: The camino’s lon-
ingly no bigger than the trail stones making my than 20,000 pilgrims each, dropping to fewer gest climbs start just past the Gaudi-designed
scarred feet scream, could not be where I was than 900 in January. Over the last decade, bishop’s palace and buzzing main square of
planning to arrive that same night. Guidebook yearly numbers have mostly risen, but 2010 saw Astorga. Through fragrant brush and below
check: It was. the most pilgrims, likely because it was a Cath- snow-covered peaks, you clamber up ham-
Dejected, I struggled downhill into the next olic “holy year.” I walked the entire camino lets like Rabanal, with its mesmerizing chant-
hamlet, El Acebo. I was barely past the first of twice, in May-June 2014 and September-Oc- ed vesper prayers, then down into vineyards
its slate-roofed stone houses when my name tober 2015, averaging 16 miles daily, often for around pretty, riverside Villafranca del Bierzo.
— “Giovanna!” — rang out in the lilting Rio de hours without seeing another pilgrim — though From there it’s uphill to O Cebreiro’s thatched-
Janeiro accent of a fellow pilgrim. I got stuck for a day among hundreds of yel- roof stone houses and Galicia’s moss-draped,
And that was my camino experience: 31 days low-hatted German confirmation students. cow-clogged paths.
of physical endurance through awe-inspiring With the universal greeting of “buen camino,” After two more bucolic days, the last 62 miles
landscapes, of contemplation punctuated by I met bikers from Taiwan, retirees from New are crowded with the “clean-shod,” as we pil-
deep connections. It was a combination that Zealand, school groups from Minnesota and grims hobbling on muddy boots called those
reset my Type-A internal clock so that stopping southern Spain, couples who started at 4 a.m. who start here. That takes nothing away, how-
to pick a poppy or a bunch of grapes, or to to ensure solitude and singles who got a lively ever, from arriving in Santiago, with its incense-
compare blisters with hikers from Seoul or Ha- party scene going most nights. The only kind filled cathedral covered with stern medieval
waii or Naples, became not only permissible of person I did not meet was one not deeply statues and swirling Baroque cherubs standing
but also imperative. affected by the experience. tall among homes, monasteries and student
The “camino frances,” or French way, is a 500 Not everyone can devote four to five weeks to pubs.
miles medieval pilgrimage route that crosses go the full way, however. Here are my favorite Before going back to email and schedules,
Spain from the Pyrenees at the French bor- four-day stretches: there’s a stairway to climb to embrace the
der to the purported burial site of the Apostle RONCESVALLES TO ESTELLA: After the first pil- statue of St. James at the cathedral’s altar,
James in the cathedral of Santiago de Com- grims’ blessing in half-a-dozen languages at and one last chance to hug fellow pilgrims.
postela. Of several historical routes to Santia- the ancient stone church in Roncesvalles, Perhaps you exchange Facebook connec-
go, this is the most popular. a two-day downhill trek through mountain tions, perhaps nothing but a whispered “good
It’s no wilderness hike: The longest stretch with- woods where Charlemagne fought and luck,” because you both know that the real
out crossing a village is 10 miles through farm- Hemingway fished takes you to Pamplona, tough “camino” starts now.q